When Rosaline Elbay was apartment hunting in New York, the fireplace, brick walls, and large windows in the living room of this Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, apartment won her over. And she painted the non-brick walls Farrow & Ball’s “Calke Green” after moving in. “Coupled with the greenery outside … it can really feel like you aren’t in New York at all when you’re sitting there with the window open,” she says.

For many people, long-backlogged projects take on a new urgency as they find themselves spending more time at home and using their spaces in different ways. For Melissa and Wyatt Shipman (Loving Here), that project was the half-bathroom in their basement.It was a relic of the early 1990s when their home was built, and it looked it: dingy tan vinyl floors, an oak vanity, poor lighting, and a dusty blue (yes, blue) toilet and sink.

“The tenants who were there before me had what can only be described as ‘gift shop’-themed furniture,” Rosie Dart shares about her apartment in London. As an illustrator, content creator, and director, she’s drawn to colors, shapes, and details, but even Rosie wasn’t a huge fan of the previous tenants’ decor.